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Challenging, uncomfortable, powerful
VERY topical for the entertainment/news media generally,perhaps even more so in Japan, not an easy watch. A great example of a Drama I REALLY enjoyed but will not watch again. All 3 female leads shone, Ms Ko was her awesome self and they nailed the ending. I hope more people watch this unflinching examination of the "truth" industry.Was this review helpful to you?
Late Qing masterpiece
enjoyable drama Set at the beginning of the end for the Qing dynasty, it was an interesting period of history that allowed the state propaganda to be a perfect, natural fit and thus not intrude on the storytelling.For me, the undoubted highlight was the presence of strong, independent women who chose their own destiny and took action to accomplish it. Both the female lead and the second female lead were completely independent individuals. They had the ability and determination to act toward getting what they wanted, and it was nice to see even a secondary character in the person of the male lead's childhood betrothed grew into exactly that kind of female character as well.
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The downsides were the annoying clownish tutorial head teacher whose past caught up with him, and the show's determination to basically just say "forget the past" for some pretty industrial-level betrayal and deceit. Said betrayal was obvious early on, the big reveal was "yeah, saw that coming from episode 2" kind of material, but the journey to that point was tolerable. The second leads were a big part of the reason for that, their arc was more nuanced and more crediblw than the leads. Finally, I love the song used for the OTP, "Siren Song" by Three Laws - a keeper for sure
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Sweet, but too weak
This show started brightly, but started to run out of steam by the halfway mark. The interactions between the leads were sweet, but in the end too anemic and often to frequently interrupted. The school section of the show was too long, and the university section felt like the high school section minus uniforms. Throw in the fact that the "social phobic" ML was still comfortable being borderline patronising and controlling at times, and I realised by the end of episodes 21 that I couldn't drink any more of its insipid brewWas this review helpful to you?
Incredible start, What the H*LL happened?
I gave this 6/10 1 point for each of the first 6, really good, episodes. Whip smart, tight, and a very enjoyable infidelity-revenge Drama. By Episode 12 we get a CGI snake thrown through a window!An argument could be made for giving it more for the sheer novelty value of its massive implosion. It's as if Leonardo sketched Mona Lisa, started the painting, then got his drunk pet baboon to finish it
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Flawed, irritating at times, but worthwhile
This Drama had a lot of really good points to it. I had been waiting for it for more than a year, after seeing Zhou Yu Tong's great performance in Begin Again, and it did not disappoint. Her performance her as a very realistic character was impressive. As someone with a congenital disability, I enjoyed watching her character's arc from that perspective. It was also great that there was no trace of maudlin sympathy for her or excusing/grlorifying her personality flaws because of a 'she's disabled, let her off' kind of approach.That lack of maudlin sympathy though was taken to extremes in the many scenes related to death and mourning. The "we're all gonna die, suck it up don't cry" mantra was megaphoned too often for my tastes. Others have accused the writer of doing a sloppy job, and that may be true, but having seen the dead hand (ha!) of SARFT at work for a decade now, my first reaction to such unsubtle preaching is to suspect state-mandate.
The other thing I really, REALLY hated were the constant references to the virtue of being fair-skinned. In a Drama that kept preaching against prejudice, to hear many characters- including the FL - repeatedly spouting THIS prejudice was really irksome
Despite that, there was a lot of very real and relatable human emotion on display. The leads were very flawed and complicated and that was great, as was the delivery of those characters by both leads - they totally nailed it. The show also surprised me with its repeated messages about gender equality - chauvinist misogyny is the norm in moden C Dramas, so this was very refreshing. I was REALLY surprised at what seemed to be a VERY clear "I'm gay" moment for one character. Given the crackdown on BL Dramas either SARFT missed it or they decided to let it pass.
I absolutely LOVED Wan Peng's role as the FL's BFF and the young actor playing her little sister was superb. Given the realistically open ending, the more extreme ending that was teased at the beginning of the final episode would not have been out of place either.
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Not awful, but...
This was not what I expected. SO MANY reviews, and one of the tags, said "comedy" - This was a funny as DIY dentistry. THe base story was fine, and it was quite well told in 6 episodes, but a comedy it was not. OTOH, it was lovely to see Han Ji Hye back on screen. I hope this was her way of easing back into acting now her child is bit older. I actually started for this for Bae Da Bin, but her role was disappointing – for a former Marine, she was portrayed as pretty much weak and useless. Also, I was hoping to her speak English as she did in her last Drama, but no such luck with this oneWas this review helpful to you?
A triumph of love over hate
In this case, my utter HATRED of the "kindergarten kismet" trope. When I saw that this Drama was built on exactly that trope, I assumed I would hate the Drama. But, it triumphed, and I loved it.What I loved was that it played with the trope, mocking it, analysing it, and teasing the viewer until the final episode as to whether the trope would come true. The side couple were well done, the bar owner's arc especially lending some real emotional warmth and depth to the light frothy sweetness of the main storyline.
Another big plus was the short length. Four hours total runtime was just right, no angst or pathos padding out a longer series.
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SUB THE SP PLEASE!
This was another delightful Japanese Drama built around strong, interesting female characters. The two female leds were the closest thing the Drama had to an OTP, and their interactions and the ensuing mutual growth of respect and affection was the heart of the show.The Drama was not without flaws, one of which were the slightly caricatured male bosses. It may be a Japanese humour style, but I've noticed this slightly OTT shouty male incompetence in other Dramas were the sympathetic protagonists are female. The writing and performance of the two female leads in this Drama were strong enough to stand on their own, without making the male boss slightly buffoonish. He could still have been shown as less competent and more interested in politicking without the shouty histrionics.
Overall, though, that was minor niggle. Haru delivered a great role as a rookie growing into a new style of detective work after an injury, and the deep bond that formed between her character and Suzuki Kyoka's made sure that by the end of the eighth and final episode the biggest and most annoying flaw was
THERE ARE NO SUBS FOR THE SP! Waaaaah!
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The story is nothing earth-shaking, but I was impressed with Do Hee's performance as THOROUGHLY unlikeable character. Selfish and UTTERLY self-absorbed, her character also showed zero growth in terms of maturing and getting half a brain until basically the penultimate episode. She treated her mother despicably, consistently so, and even managed to provoke her somewhat implausibly tolerant boyfriend to rage by her thoughtless self-absorption. That's why I was impressed with Do Hee's performance. In the first 12-5-12 episodes, there's really not one thing about her character that evokes sympathetic approval. She's just a whiny, self-obsessed spoiled kid who truly has no idea about the real world or how incredibly easy she has it. And Do Hee nailed it, well done.
Happily, there WAS a character to like and root for, and that was Jin Ye Ju's Ha Rim, the BFF of Do Hee's character. Ha Rim was sharp, cynical, insightful, and clear-eyed, and a perfect foil to Do Hee's Da Mi. She made the show fun, even when Do Hee's great portrayal of a selfish slob was so good as to be vexing.
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The core storyline had potential but the execution was a muddled mess. Nothing of real import to the core plot happened until partway through episode 7 of 9, by which point resistance WAS futile :)
I stayed for some ofg the characters, especially Akitsu and his wife and daughter. His compliance office colleague seemed implausibly naive and fragile for such a role. Which was a major disappointment, as Hirose Alice was the reason I started the Drama. Overall, an unsatisfying experience, except for the delightful Akitsu family
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This review may contain spoilers
SPOILERS: DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO WATCH"Wonderfully Sweet and Entertaining" - that was how one blogger described this Drama, and it puzzled me. It STARTED that way, but by about 1/4 of the way through, the body count started to climb, and the deaths, most depicted with languid lingering attention to gory detail, kept on coming. Basically EVERYBODY dies, except the OTP, and apparently THAT makes it a "wonderfuly sweet and entertaining" romance? I started this for Ms Kim, whose work I've enjoyed for 6 years now, but the surfeit of savagery in this sageuk meant I had to bail out after making it to half way.
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